The invention relates to firearms, and more particularly to a recoil reducer device which may be fitted onto most conventional shotguns with very little modification.
Gas-operated shotgun recoil reducers have been known previously. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,088,057 issued to Nasypany disclosed a gas-operated recoil reducer mounted on top of a gun barrel, connected thereto by a bracket as shown in FIG. 6 of the patent. The operation of that recoil reducer was somewhat similar to that of the present invention, in that gas pressure from the explosive charge was operative to push a piston back to the rear of a cylinder tube. The piston was slowed down in a damping effect, with bleeding of gas pressure at the rear of the cylinder.
Another item of prior art pertinent to this invention is the Remington Model 870 Competition Trap shotgun, as described, for example, in the article "Remington 870 Competition Trap", by Richard Kay, Shootin' Trap magazine, Volume 3, Number 5, July 1981, pages 42-48. That shotgun again utilized the same principle as in the present invention, that of reducing recoil by pushing a piston assembly backward with expanding gases from the exploded charge. However, the Remington recoil reducer was integral with the gun, not capable of being added onto an existing shotgun, and eliminated any magazine storage for the gun, limiting shell storage to the one shell loaded in the chamber.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,679,192 (Seeley et. al) and 4,156,979 (Katsenes) also show gas-operated recoil reducers, but each works on a theory which is opposite from that of the Remington gun and of the present invention. In the Seeley and Katsenes patents, gas from the explosive charge was employed to push a piston weight forwardly in a tube, and the weight's striking the forward end of the tube was the reaction which supposedly opposed the normal gun recoil to reduce it.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,115,063 (Browning) 3,105,411 (Browning), 3,683,534 (Davis), and 3,461,589 (Vironda) all show devices aimed at recoil reduction but not involving gas operation, with little pertinence to the present invention.
None of the prior art provided or contemplated a relatively simple, explosive-gas-operated shotgun recoil reducer device which can be added to an existing shotgun of nearly any conventional configuration, with very little modification required. This is accomplished with the present invention described below.